This invention relates to a device and an associated method for improving the efficacy of a personal support. More particularly, this invention relates to a device and an associated method for automatically affecting the form, contour and/or support pressure of a personal support such as an article of clothing, a safety or protective device, or an article of furniture. This invention also relates to a method and associated apparatus for monitoring physical activity of a person to determine body comfort.
A recent ergonomic development in the field of clothing involves an athletic shoe which is provided with a manually actuatable pump for modifying the pressure of a support chamber in the shoe. The pump enables a user to adapt the shoe to the particular circumstances of use, increasing pressure in the chamber and thereby stiffening one or more panels or sides of the shoe for enhancing support or, alternatively, decreasing pressure to provide greater flexibility and augmented shock absorption.
Where the type and intensity of the athletic activity remains constant or uniform during an entire event, such as in a race, then the shoe pump design works acceptably well. However, where the kind and level of activity changes during an athletic event, the preselected pressure may become suboptimal. For example, during a tennis match, the user may change his or her tactics from consistent base line volleying to a frequent rush to the net. In a volleyball tournament, the role of a particular player may change from that of a setter to a hitter. The differences between the two tactics result in different kinds of stresses exerted on the foot. These stresses or loads differ from one another in impact frequency and intensity. The problem, of course, is that the wearer does not have an opportunity to modify the pressure in the pressurizable chamber in the middle of such athletic activity.
Similar considerations apply to other kinds of personal supports such as therapeutic braces and athletic equipment. For example, where a person is provided with a brace for supporting a strained muscle or ligament, certain kinds of stress or physical activity are desirable exercise, requiring reduced support in order to give the muscles an opportunity to exert themselves, while other kinds of stress are possibly dangerous to therapeutic mending, requiring greater support for protection. Once again, the problem is that the brace wearer or the individual's physical therapist is frequently unable to predict the kind and level of stress in advance of a physical activity to permit optimal adjustment of the brace, e.g., of pressurizable bladders in the brace.
Another kind of personal support surface is a bed or a chair. It would be desirable, for instance, to modify the support characteristics of a bed in accordance with the stress or loads experienced by different parts of the user's body, in order to minimize unhealthy stress distributions. Stress on a sleeper's body can be estimated in part by determining the posture of the sleeper. More specifically, a person sleeping on his stomach is apt to require different support than a person lying on his side or his back. Optimally, the rigidity or firmness of different parts of a mattress should be varied depending on the posture of the sleeper.